L.V. library prepares for six-week closure

By Natalie Chandler, Staff Writer :
July 23, 2013

As the final phase of construction work continues on the expansion of Leon Valley's public library, the facility will close beginning Aug. 1.

Library Director Joyce Trent said it will reopen six weeks later, around Sept. 12.

The closure will accommodate builders as they open a wall of the building to connect the new children's wing to the existing facility and work on re-flooring the library, Trent said.

“They're also looking at the limestone and how it should be laid out so that it's complimentary to the existing limestone,” she told City Council July 9.

Apologizing for the inconvenience, Trent said the library is asking “that all DVDs be returned by the end of (July).”

“But we're allowing people to take books — as many as they want — home as a check-out so that they'll have reading materials,” she said. “And that'll be less for us to deal with in the building.”

The library also is no longer accepting inter-library loans until mid-September, she said.

A summer reading club party will be rescheduled for early September, according to the city's website.

The 4,000-square-foot expansion began in April. It was expected to force the library's closure during some of its busiest months of the year, but the order of construction was rearranged so that the facility could remain open most of the summer.

“We're very pleased with the progress,” Trent said.

She said the date of the reopening is still in limbo because it's uncertain when the library's new furniture will arrive.

“The vendor says we will be extremely fortunate if furniture is here on Sept. 12,” she said. “It would be wonderful to open, but not so wonderful if we have nonexistent furniture in that wing. So we want to be a little bit fuzzy about the opening because it's dependent on when the equipment arrives and is installed.”

“We want to be ready. We want people to come in and be pleased with the result,” she added.

The $543,000 project is being paid for through the city budget, along with a refund from a defunct CPS Energy program and a fundraising effort by the Friends of the Leon Valley Public Library.